ABSTRACT
In this chapter we draw on empirical data to analyse how risk-taking practices interact with young people’s routines in everyday life and what happens when they do. By studying how risk-taking practices are reproduced as routinised, adapted, and innovated performances in the everyday life of young people we wish to uncover the mundane and unspectacular sides of risk-taking. We demonstrate that risk-taking practices do not exist in a vacuum; rather, they require continuous coordination and synchronisation with other practices in young people’s lives. As the analysis shows, specific practices such as cannabis use or speeding are rarely seen as ‘risky’ per se. Instead, risk depends on how a practice connects to other practices and the meanings assigned to them, as well as how it is embedded within the context of everyday lives. In that sense, coordinating practices becomes a key everyday task that requires specific resources, such as clocks and calendars but also training and competencies. However, despite often demanding some level of coordination with friends, risk-taking practices are for the majority of young people ‘flexible’ in time.
